οὐ adherescent (or privative) placed before a verb (or other single word) not merely negatives the meaning of the simple verb but gives it an opposite meaning, the two expressing a single negative idea; as οὔ φημιI deny, I refuse (not I say not). οὔ φημι is preferred to φημὶ οὐ as nego is preferred to aio non.

2692

Adherescent οὐ is especially common with verbs of saying or thinking, but occurs also with many verbs of will or desire. In such cases οὐ goes closely with the leading verb, forming a quasi- compound; whereas it belongs in sense to a following infinitive if an infinitive depends on the leading verb. In Latin actual composition has taken place in nego, nescio, nequeo, nolo.

οὐκ ἔφη ἰέναιhe refused to goX.A. 1.3.8, οὔ φα_σιν εἶναι ἄλλην ὁδόνthey say that there is no other road 4. 1. 21 (cp. φῂς ἢ οὔ; yes or no?P.A. 27d), τίνας δ' οὐκ ᾤετο δεῖν λέγειν; who were those whom he thought ought not to speak?Aes. 1.28, ἃ οὐκ ἐᾶτε ἡμᾶς . . . ποιεῖνwhat you forbid us to doX.C. 1.3.10, οὐκ ἀξιοῖ . . . φεύγοντα τι_μωρεῖσθαιhe said that it was not right to avenge himself on an exileT. 1.136.

οὐ with the principal verb may be equivalent in sense to μή with a dependent infinitive; as οὐ συμβουλεύων Ξέρξῃ στρατεύεσθαι ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδαadvising Xerxes not to march against Greece ( = συμβουλεύων μὴ στρατεύεσθαι) Hdt. 7.46.

2694

Analogous to this use with verbs is the use of οὐ with adjectives and adverbs.

The origin of adherescent οὐ is to be found partly in the unwillingness of the early language to use the negative particle with the infinitive, partly in the preference for a negative rather than a positive assertion, and to the disinclination to make a strong positive statement (litotes, as in some of the cases of cross2694), and partly in the absence of negative compounds, the development of which in adjectives and participles ( cross2071 a) was in turn restricted by the use of adherescent οὐ.

2696

Adherescent οὐ is often found in a protasis with εἰ and in other constructions where we expect μή.

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εἰ δ' ἀποστῆναι Ἀθηναίων οὐκ ἠθελήσαμεν . . ., οὐκ ἠδικοῦμενbut if we refused to revolt from the Athenians, we were not doing wrongT. 3.55, εἰ οὐκ ἐᾷςif thou forbiddestS.Aj. 1131 ( = εἰ κωλύ_εις), εἰ μὴ Πρόξενον οὐχ ὑπεδέξαντο, ἐσώθησαν ἄνif it had not been that they did not receive Proxenus, they would have been savedD. 19.74, εἰ μὲν οὐ πολλοὶ ἦσανif they were fewL. 13.62 (emended by some to οὖν μή). ἐὰ_ν οὐ is rare, as ἐά_ν τε οὐ φῆτε ἐά_ν τε φῆτεboth if you deny it and if you admit itP.A. 25b (cp. L. 13.76, D. 26.24).

2697

But μή often does not yield to οὐ, as ἄ_ντ' ἐγὼ φῶ ἄ_ν τε μὴ φῶboth if I assent and if I do notD. 21.205, οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως φῶ τοῦτο καὶ μὴ φῶI know not how I shall say this and not say itE.I. A. 643, ἐὰ_ν μὴ . . . ἐᾶτεD. 16.12, and in many cases where μή goes closely with the following word, as εἰ ἐδίδου κρίσιν καὶ μὴ ἀφῃρεῖτοif he were granting a trial and not taking it awayD. 23.91.

b. When there is an emphatic assertion of fact or probability, as where a direct statement is quoted. Thus, εἰ δὲ οὐδὲν ἡμάρτηταί μοιif (as I have shown) no error has been committed by meAnd. 1.33, εἰ, ὡς νῦν φήσει, οὐ παρεσκεύαστοif, as he will presently assert, he had not made preparationsD. 54.29. Cp. X.A. 1.7.18, quoted in 2790.

c. When εἰ (ἐά_ν) is used instead of ὅτιthat (because) after verbs of emotion ( cross2247). Thus, μὴ θαυμάσῃς εἰ πολλὰ τῶν εἰρημένων οὐ πρέπει σοιdo not be surprised if much of what has been said does not apply to youI. 1.44. Here μή is possible.

e. When a single εἰ introduces a bimembered protasis as a whole, the μέν clause and the δέ clause of that protasis may have οὐ. Such bimembered protases often depend on a preceding apodosis introduced by αἰσχρόν, ἄτοπον, δεινόν, θαυμαστόν ἐστι (ἂν εἴη) and like expressions of emotion (c). Thus, εἶτ' οὐκ αἰσχρόν . . . εἰ τὸ μὲν Ἀργείων πλῆθος οὐκ ἐφοβήθη τὴν Λακεδαιμονίων ἀρχὴν . . ., ὑ_μεῖς δὲ ὄντες Ἀθηναῖοι βάρβαρον ἄνθρωπον φοβήσεσθε; is it not then disgraceful, if it is true that whereas the Argive commons did not fear the empire of the Lacedaemonians, you, who are Athenians, are going to be afraid of a barbarian?D. 15.23, αἰσχρὸν γάρ, εἰ πατὴρ μὲν ἐξεῖλεν Φρύγας, ὃ δ' ἄνδρ' ἕν' ου' δυνήσεται κτανεῖνfor it is disgraceful that, whereas the father destroyed the Phrygians, the other (the son) is not going to be able to destroy one foe E.El. 336, δεινὸν ἂν εἴη, εἰ οἱ μὲν ἐκείνων ξύμμαχοι ἐπὶ δουλείᾳ τῇ αὑτῶν (χρήματα) φέροντες οὐκ ἀπεροῦσιν, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἐπὶ τῷ . . . αὐτοὶ σῴζεσθαι οὐκ ἄρα δαπανήσομενit would be strange if, whereas their allies will not fail to pay tribute for their own enslavement, we on the other hand will not expend it for the purpose of saving ourselvesT. 1.121.

N. 1.—The second member of such protases has οὐ if the verb stands in the indicative, but μή (in classical Greek) if the verb is in the optative. In Aes. 2.157οὐ κατάσχοιμι is due to indirect discourse.

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N. 2.—In such sentences εἰ may (1) have a conditional force in both clauses, as L. 30.16, 31. 24; (2) have a conditional force in the second member, but the force of ἐπεί in the first member, as L. 20.36, Is. 14.52; (3) have the force of ἐπεί in the first member, and that of ὅτι in the second member, as D. 8.55, Aes. 3.242; (4) have the force of ὅτι in both members, as T. 1.35, 1. 121, X.C. 7.5.84.

Homer has εἰ and the indicative with οὐ ( cross12 times) when the subordinate clause precedes the main clause; but usually εἰ μή, when the subordinate clause follows. Thus, εἰ δέ μοι οὐ τείσουσι βοῶν ἐπιεικἔ ἀμοιβήν, δύ_σομαι εἰς Ἀίδα_οbut if they will not pay a fitting compensation for the cattle, I will go down to Hadesμ 382, ἔνθα κεν Ἀργείοισιν ὑπέρμορα νόστος ἐτύχθη, εἰ μὴ Ἀθηναίην Ἥρη πρὸς μῦθον ἔειπενthen in that case the return of the Argives had been accomplished against fate, if Hera had not spoken a word to Athena B 155.

a. The Homeric εἰ οὐ with the indicative has been explained either as a retention of the original use, μή with that mood being an extension through the analogy of the subjunctive and optative; or because οὐ went with the predicate, whereas μή was closely attached to εἰ.